dr. house

Everyone Dies

The big question going into tonight’s series finale of House was whether or not Dr. Gregory House would die. It’s odd, reviewing the end. I’m not sure I serve much point here; this write-up (even more than usual) exists largely to remind you of various points throughout the episode, and give you a space to discuss what you liked or didn’t like. There’s no possible way for me to believably summarize eight years worth of television, and, to be honest, House doesn’t really deserve that level of scrutiny. It was a popular hit that helped anchor the Fox Monday night line-up for a while, and then it wasn’t anymore, so now it’s being cancelled.

Standing in House’s way, however, were the Ghosts of Seasons Past: Kutner (Kal Penn), Amber (Anne Dudek), Stacy (Sela Ward) and Cameron (Jennifer Morrison). Kutner and Amber encouraged Dr. Crankypants to live so that he could continue to solve the medical puzzles put before him. Stacy and Cameron, meanwhile, sought to remind House that, although he thinks it impossible, he is capable of loving and being loved.

How House ended up in that burning building in the first place was part of the mystery. House first asks Foreman (Omar Epps) to tell the parole board that House is needed to work on a number of serious cases, thus delaying his prison stint. When Foreman balks, House assumes Wilson will take the fall for last week’s hockey ticket stunt, therefore creating enough reasonable doubt to clear House’s name.

Runaways

The House “Runaways” recap involved Dr. House connecting with a patient for what seems like the first time and a pretty strange side story involving two Confederate soldiers. Why is it that every episode this season has had to rely on this message that people don’t change? Is it that the writers think that any remaining viewers of this once fantastic series are dumb? Eh, maybe they’re right there. I can’t speak for the rest of House’s viewership, but I sure feel pretty dumb for not giving up on this show the second I heard of Amber Tamblyn’s casting last season.

And other than those items, “Runaways” was for the most part a filler episode. If an episode is going to be a filler, it needs to be humorous. It can’t rely on boring stories about Foreman and Taub that most viewers aren’t all that interested in. Remember the season six episode, “The Down Low?” It’s the one where Wilson is trying to date his neighbor and House pretends he and Wilson are gay so he can get the girl?

Speaking of moral dilemmas, the other story line this week involved Foreman’s relationship with Anita, and whether or not he should keep seeing her even after she — Sorry, I fell asleep while writing that. Foreman isn’t a very likable character as it is, so I don’t really care about him already, so I really don’t care about whoever this girl is. She’s only appeared on one episode before this, “Perils of Paranoia” last year, where she only had one scene. I couldn’t care less about these reprehensible characters, and whether or not they can make this reprehensible relationship work.